View of the Chicago Water Tower and pumping station after the Great Fire of 1871. Chicago Water Tower, 1869, William W. Boyington, 806 North Michigan Avenue. Photo Credit: Chicago History Museum, ICHi-002792

On the 150th anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire which began on October 8, 1871...

During the Great Chicago Fire, roughly 3.3 square miles of Chicago were destroyed, approximately 300 people lost their lives, 17,450 buildings were destroyed and over 100,000 Chicagoans were left homeless.

“'The limestone tower, built in 1869 by architect William W. Boyington, is one of the few buildings to survive the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, making it 'as much an icon of our identity as our lake or our flag, representing both our ingenuity, architectural heritage and boundless resiliency as a people,' Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a statement. 'Just as our city has been shaped around it, it has also shaped us, bridging our past to our present, and continuously guiding our future for generations to come.'

"'It’s truly an architectural survivor that’s been an inspiration to many,' said lecturer John Maxson, former president and CEO of the Greater North Michigan Avenue Association. We all know that it was the only municipal building in town to survive the Great Chicago Fire, but it also survived developers trying to tear it down…and the city trying to tear it down to try and straighten Michigan Avenue.'” (Wittich, 9/14/19)

The Old Chicago Water Tower is a much beloved Landmark which was almost demolished multiple times during the 1960s and 1970s. It’s a miracle that it has survived and this is largely due to strong public pressure to protect it.

To honor the 150th anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire which so devastated our City and its residents, yet in retrospect had many positive impacts on the growth of Chicago and its ingenuity, Preservation Chicago has asked the Department of Planning and Development-Historic Preservation Division and the Commission on Chicago Landmarks to consider 150 new designated Chicago Landmarks in this anniversary year from October 2021 to October 2022.

Such an idea could begin with the Chicago Landmark Designation of the Seth Warner House, built in 1869 in the Austin Community, by industrialist and abolitionist Seth Warner, and extend to early pre-fire and post Chicago Fire Buildings across the City. This idea could include such communities as Hyde Park and South Chicago on the South Side and Lincoln Park and Lake View on the North Side-extending to Edgewater, and Austin and large areas of the West Side, with buildings that predate the fire of 1871.

This could also extend to community landmarks which have often been overlooked, like Holy Family Church, Mrs. O’Leary’s parish church on Roosevelt Road (1857) and Old St. Patrick’s Church (1856) in the West Loop and St. James Episcopal Cathedral on the Near North Side. Also, such later community landmark buildings as the Hotel Guyon, which stands vacant and if reused could transform the West Garfield Park Community, along with the Garfield Park Bandshell, by Joseph Lyman Silsbee. Also, the Francis Scott School on the West Side by Dwight Perkins, which remains vacant. On the South Side, buildings like the Washington Park National Bank Building in West Woodlawn, Loretto Academy and the Washington Park Substation and the South Chicago Masonic Temple, to the Walter Burley Designed Cornell Store and Flats Building in South Shore/Greater Grand Crossing Community. 

In the Loop, buildings like the Century and Consumers Buildings at 202 and 220 S. State Street, as well as the Musicians Federation Building could be given Landmark Designation. North Side buildings could include several potential Landmark Districts, like Lakewood-Balmoral, areas of the Gold Coast-Near North Side, River North and extending to Rogers Park. 

It’s a year of opportunity to explore the city for new Landmarks, as it was only 50 years ago, that the Old Chicago Water Tower, was finally designated a Chicago Landmark, just three days prior to the 100th anniversary of the Chicago Fire, and saving it from decades of speculation and demolition for a widening of North Michigan Avenue. What a tragedy that would have been and what an opportunity to have the Old Water Tower, Pumping Station, Fire Station and all of the greenspaces around them, as a relief from the many superstructures that now surround them. Landmarks are of great pride to our City and also a source of tourism, which continues to boost our city as a city of architecture.

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"A house in the Austin neighborhood built by a Chicagoan who, prior to the Civil War, hosted anti-slavery meetings in his downtown performance hall is being nominated for landmark status by its longtime owners.

"Jim Bowers and Cynthia Weaver, who have owned the Seth Warner house on Central Avenue since the mid-1980s, will join preservationists and city officials in nominating the home, built in 1869, at a Commission on Chicago Landmarks meeting Oct. 7. It’s the beginning of a landmarking process that will take three to six months.

"Seth Warner, a blacksmith, owned Warner’s Hall, which on Oct. 6, 1853, to Oct. 8, 1853, was the site of the First Convention of the Colored Citizens of the State of Illinois. At the convention, members resolved to fight Illinois’ Black Law, which prohibited free Black Americans from coming to Illinois for longer than 10 days. They also resolved that 'we most especially recommend to our people throughout the state to become owners of land, to build houses and cultivate the soil, as the surest means of making themselves and families independent and respectable.'

"Frederick Douglass spoke at the convention, according to historical research that Preservation Chicago and the Chicago Department of Planning & Development prepared for the nomination. The text of Douglass’s comments is not known, but it’s likely to have been along the same lines of his speech a few weeks later in downstate Princeton, where he said, 'You must abolish slavery or be abolished by slavery.'

"Warner’s Hall stood on the site of the present-day Daley Center, around Clark and Randolph streets, according to Ward Miller, executive director of Preservation Chicago. The hall hosted an 1854 meeting of Free Soil Party supporters to oppose the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and an 1863 meeting to encourage African-American men to join the Union Army, according to the groups’ research.

"Because Warner’s Hall was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire 150 years ago this week, the Austin house that Seth Warner built 'is all that remains of the footprint of this man,' Miller said.

"The house has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1982, before the couple bought the house, but has not been put up for city landmarking before “because nobody asked,” Bowers said. Miller met him recently in meetings about other subjects and eventually suggested he get the house, the oldest in Austin, landmarked.

"If the commission approves on Oct. 7, the house will get preliminary landmark status and go through a series of meetings, firth with the commission, then the City Council committee on zoning and landmarks, and finally the full City Council." (Rodkin, Crain's Chicago Business, 10/7/21)

"Proposals to list Altgeld Gardens, the Ramova Theatre and the Elijah Muhammad house on the National Register of Historic Places cleared a key committee hearing Wednesday and will come before the full Commission on Chicago Landmarks in October.

"All three sites were approved to move forward by the commission’s program committee. If the full commission also votes in favor of the proposals, the final recommendation for listing will then rest with the Illinois Historic Sites Advisory Council.

"The addition of Altgeld Gardens and the Elijah Muhammad house to the register would broaden the stories represented in Chicago’s and the nation’s history.

Airplane pulling "STOP CUTTING DOWN TREES. MOVE OPC" banner during formal groundbreaking ceremony for Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park. Photo Credit: @Joshua Mellin

"Months before the official groundbreaking of the Obama Presidential Center (OPC), residents and commuters were already noticing changes to the landscape near the lakefront.

"Yet, for many people, the scope of the area’s impending transformation didn’t really hit home until the trees came down, hundreds of trees—some more than a century old—seemingly taken for granted by OPC planners. And the Women’s Garden at Jackson Park was recently uprooted to the dismay of local residents who’d been told by the Obama Foundation that it would be left intact.

"It does not take a 'tree hugger' or a preservationist to realize the ecological damage that has been done overnight, which has wider implications for the city. The Southeast Side, for example—if not the entire South Side—notoriously suffers from environmental pollution and can hardly afford to spare a square foot of greenery.

"Studies show the Jackson Park trees removed about 350 pounds of air pollution a year and absorbed two hundred tons of carbon. They additionally provided a cooling effect and a needed respite for Chicagoans. Proponents of the OPC in Jackson Park have assured the public that they will replace the tree deficit with the same number of young trees, but frankly, we may not see the Lake Shore canopy return to its former glory in our lifetimes or ever.

"The trees that were cut consisted of roughly forty species of mostly healthy mature trees with trunks that were up to fifty-nine inches in width and acted as both food and shelter for birds and wildlife. The majority of birds that inhabit or migrate through the state descend upon the shores of Chicago’s Lake Michigan in a route that is known as the Mississippi Flyway. All kinds of bird species, plant species, and animals and insects, were co-dependent on the Jackson Park ecosystem that has been disrupted.

"This piece of protected land has been coveted ever since it was host to the World’s Columbian Exposition and dating further back. But today, through a combination of legislative maneuvers, Jackson Park has gone from having public oversight to being controlled by private hands." (Serrato, South Side Weekly, 9/30/21)

Obama Presidential Center Construction Officially Begins In Jackson Park; After years of delays, the Obama Foundation and the city have finally started to build the presidential center in Jackson Park and overhaul the area's road layout, Maxwell Evans, Block Club Chicago, 8/16/21

"Earlier this month, the Women’s Garden on the Midway at Jackson Park was destroyed to make room for the Obama Presidential Center.

"For those of us who live near Jackson Park and have become spoiled by its natural beauty, the loss was jarring.

"Every foundation stone from the 1893 World’s Fair Women’s Pavilion was removed. Every plant from the May McAdams-designed garden was ripped out. Every tree was cut down.

"When I pass the site now, I have to look away. What we’ve lost as a neighborhood and as a city cannot be replaced. But in all transparency, I have a weakness for old things — trees and buildings especially. So the erasure of that special place hit me very hard.

"With this very recent loss in mind, I cannot help but worry about another natural resource that is also in the crosshairs of the south lakefront plan: The South Shore Nature Area.

"While the destruction of the Women’s Garden rests at the feet of the Obama Foundation, the fate of the Nature Area lies with the proposed merger of the Jackson Park and South Shore golf courses by Tiger Woods’ TGR Design.

"As a 20-year Woodlawn resident, I am very aware of the promise that both the Obama Presidential Library and a PGA level course could bring to the south lakefront. Initially, I was excited to have the Obama Presidential Center as a neighbor. It felt good for Woodlawn to be Obama’s first choice instead of being thought of as a neighborhood of last resort.

"Sadly, and in true Chicago style, the promise to showcase Jackson Park soured before the groundbreaking. From the start, no community input was sought on the imminent closing of Cornell Drive. No discussion of how changing traffic patterns would make crossing Stony Island that much more difficult. No consideration how that extra traffic was going to affect CTA routes. Just a talk of a sledding hill and how the emerging park needed to be united, not split up by a roadway.

"I remember asking at one of the earliest meetings if any traffic studies had been done and how increased traffic was going to affect the wear on Stony Island. At the time, my questions were met with blank stares.

"Seemingly, as with most of Chicago’s great civic undertakings, questions persist over finances — specifically the rising cost of construction (from $500 million to $700 million), the slim endowment fund for operating and maintenance costs ($1 million as of June 22) — and if the foundation has met all the requirements put forth in the Master Agreement signed in 2019.

"But the one point that truly stuck out in my mind was how the Obama Foundation said they weren’t going to touch the Women’s Garden. At the time, the promise that was made was that they were going to stop right at the Midway and not go further north. Clearly that changed.

"Sometimes our city leaders tend to make poor decisions. The Skyway sale deal, and the parking meter sale deal are two that spring to mind. Any alteration of the South Shore Nature Area to build a golf course would add to that list.

"It’s too late for the Women’s Garden. Nothing the Obama Foundation could put in its stead will rival its natural beauty. Please don’t let that happen to the Nature Area.

"The louder the drum of jobs and economic opportunity is beaten, the less I’m inclined to believe it. Don’t let that projected promise deprive us of our neighborhood’s natural resources and landmarks. (Lyletta Robinson is a 20-year Woodlawn resident.) (Robinson, Chicago Sun-Times, 9/15/21)

"Chicago in 1871 was a rather ramshackle affair, without a great deal of architectural distinction. While there was an immediate move to rebuild, there was little lamentation for the beauty or distinction of what was lost. Nor was there a memorable quality to the new construction that followed in the fire's wake, which tended more to the efficient than the artful. Very few structures remain from that initial rebuilding, as the vast majority of those structures were destroyed by developers and architects building what we think of as the original Chicago school of architecture in the 1880s, 1890s and 1900s.

"Louis Sullivan, Daniel Burnham, Frank Lloyd Wright and their many extraordinarily talented colleagues would mostly build their enduring visions of an ascendant new American architecture on the destruction of the more expedient structures that sprung up in the immediate wake of the fire in the 1870s.

"There is no question that the Great Chicago Fire was a cataclysmic event in the young city's history and one worthy of continuing remembrance. But while the city and its denizens never cease to tout our architecture as a key civic asset, we still seem to revel in the wanton destruction of our built histories. From the utterly indefensible razing of Prentice Hospital in the last decade to the currently planned sale of the James R. Thompson Center as primarily a building site rather than a preservation opportunity, Chicago's zeal for demolition often outpaces our interest in a genuine and enduring architectural legacy.

"It's unfortunate that this seems to be the Great Fire's greatest continuing role in our city—quietly and almost always unstated—justifying a continuing program of architectural destruction that outpaces any desire to build success upon success. It enables our profit-driven shortsightedness and posits that progress and creativity require wholesale destruction to take place—a false choice that we make over and over again.

"This happens at large and small scales across most neighborhoods in the city. Both the Lincoln Yards and Michael Reese sites were cleared of virtually all their histories before developers and architects started their new schemes. Even Fulton Market, where a number of old structures help establish a sense of place and context for newer buildings, has recently seen some remarkable and irreplaceable silo structures erased to enable easier and far less compelling new construction. And building by building, we see many older residential structures throughout the city demolished for bloated and far less interesting new homes.

"We need to encourage better architecture and urbanism via means that are primarily additive and accretive, with the subtractive means of demolition used carefully and seldom. Let's stop using wide-scale destruction as a road to 'progress.' Those responsible for the physical design of this city need to embrace the rudimentary techniques of improvisational theater, asking 'Yes, and . . .' at every step of development.

"A new generation of preservationists is intent on saving structures beyond those most remarkable that we consider landmarks, an initiative that implores us to identify and embrace richer and more complex histories than just a handful of standout sites. This fertile endeavor suggests that we need to stop the continuing holocaust that has too often fueled our 'greatest' architectural achievements.

"It's been 150 years since the fire. It's well past time to stop Chicago's seemingly perpetual lust for the destruction of our built environment.

"Edward Keegan is a Chicago architect and a contributing editor to Architect Magazine." (Keegan, Crain's Chicago Business, 9/23/21)

"A historic Edgewater church that houses a vital men’s homeless shelter is up for sale, creating uncertainty about the future of both.

"Epworth United Methodist Church, 5253 N. Kenmore Ave., has been a neighborhood landmark for more than 130 years, its distinctive boulder walls dating to when the newly developing Edgewater community was annexed into Chicago.

"But a once-thriving congregation that could fill a sanctuary built for 600 people now numbers only 30 to 35 members. And the surviving worshipers can’t afford the upkeep on the aging 22,500-square-foot structure.

"That’s an old but increasingly common story in Chicago. It’s a problem that crosses neighborhoods and denominations, as city dwellers turn away from organized religion, leaving church buildings underutilized and without resources for repairs.

"Over the past four decades, one of the church’s most important roles has been to provide space for a homeless shelter with beds for up to 67 men who sleep in the building’s second-floor gymnasium. The shelter, operated since 2009 by Cornerstone Community Outreach, is one of the last homeless shelters for men on the North Side and the only one in Edgewater.

"Since last year, the shelter has been operating at about two-thirds capacity because of social distancing requirements forced by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The planned sale of the church was brought to my attention by Anne Sullivan, a self-described community 'troublemaker' who lives next door to Epworth in a senior apartment building. Fearful that a sale could see the church torn down to make way for a high-rise residential development, Sullivan started a petition drive to win city landmark protection for the building. It’s already on the National Register of Historic Places, but that designation affords it little practical protection.

"Sullivan says she has been met with an outpouring of support from neighbors fond of the familiar, old structure.

"Ald. Harry Osterman (48th) agrees Epworth is a 'very important part of the fabric of the community. My goal is to save the building, make it be more functional. I don’t want some developer to knock it down and build condos. There will not be a high-rise there, period.'

"Osterman says he considers the church a 'historic building' and says he is exploring legal options for protecting it but suggests that he’d prefer to work cooperatively with a nonprofit owner interested in some 'good community adaptive re-use.'

"The building has some significant problems, but it’s in better shape than many old churches in Chicago that I’ve visited. The foundation is settling, which has caused a large crack that’s visible along the top of the basement wall. But Sansone says the crack is no worse than when he joined the church 24 years ago. 'It’s not crumbling down,' he says of the structure.

"Still, there’s no question the building needs serious work, more than $500,000 to fix it says Sassone, and the congregation doesn’t have the money.

"Let’s hope they find a way to keep this piece of history by making it a part of a better future for the residents of Edgewater." (Brown, Chicago Sun-Times, 8/20/21)

"The city is asking residents of West Humboldt Park and the surrounding area to weigh in on a pair of competing development proposals for the old Pioneer Bank site.

"Hispanic Housing Development Corp. and Park Row Development are vying to redevelop the bank site at 4000 W. North Ave. and 1616-38 N. Pulaski Road, which has sat vacant for 13 years. The two developers submitted development proposals through Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Invest South/West initiative, which aims to revitalize neighborhoods on the South and West sides.

"Hispanic Housing is looking to transform the bank building into a Latino cultural hub with offices for PrimeCare Health and Rincon Family Services on the upper floors and a public library on the ground floor. The nonprofit developer also wants to build an 11-story, 76-unit affordable housing complex on the site to the north of the building. The complex would house the performing arts studio En Las Tablas and Repertorio Latino Theater Co.

"Park Row Development, on the other hand, has a vision for the bank building that includes offices for a Latino-led nonprofit, entrepreneurial incubator space and a Latino cultural center. Under Park Row’s plans, a 75-unit affordable housing complex with a Humboldt Park Family Health facility and possibly a library would open on the site north of the building.

"The former Pioneer Trust & Savings Bank was built in 1925 and designed by architect Karl M. Vitzthum during the “golden age” of banking, when banks were designing grand buildings to “signal to the banking customer the notion that their money would be safe and the bank was here to stay,” city officials said in a report. The bank earned city landmark status in 2012.

"Puerto Rico-based bank Banco Popular took over the landmarked bank building in the mid-’90s as Humboldt Park’s Puerto Rican population grew. Banco Popular called the building home until 2008, when it moved across the street.

"In recent years, the site has languished. Pulaski Investments, owner of the site since 2015, has struggled to redevelop the building and the surrounding lots, city officials have said." (Bloom, Block Club Chicago, 9/30/21)

Preservation Chicago has been concerned about the cluster of historic buildings at the intersection of North Avenue and Pulaski for many years including the Pioneer Bank at 4000 W. North Avenue, the Pioneer Arcade at 1535 N. Pulaski Road, and the New Apollo Theater at 1536 N. Pulaski Road. All three architecturally significant buildings have suffered from deferred maintenance and long periods of vacancy.

Despite its lengthy vacancy, The Pioneer Bank was not included as a Chicago 7 Most Endangered because it was protected by a Chicago Landmark Designation. Neither the Pioneer Arcade and New Apollo Theater are landmarked and are at significant risk of demolition.

Preservation Chicago strongly supports the City of Chicago's Invest South/West program which has proactively identified architecturally significant buildings located in communities of disinvestment. The program focuses the resources of the City of Chicago to stabilize communities and promote healthy communities by leveraging the power of historic preservation. It would be great to see a community or cultural use such as a library in the main lobby banking hall of the Pioneer Bank.

This is an ideal development project for INVEST South/West and we strongly applaud Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Department of Planning and Development Commissioner Maurice Cox for selecting Pioneer Bank for the program. We recognize and applaud their strong leadership in ensuring a outstanding outcome for the building and community, and their commitment and efforts to strongly reinvest in Chicago's neighborhoods. We hope to see a successful adaptive reuse of the Pioneer Bank, followed by successful renovation and landmarking of the Pioneer Arcade and New Apollo Theater.

The Pioneer Arcade was designed by architect Jens J. Jensen in 1925 and was a Chicago 7 Most Endangered in 2015. The Pioneer Arcade’s façade is one of Chicago’s best examples of 1920s Spanish Colonial Revival style architecture with exuberant terra cotta work that rivals of some of Chicago’s finest 1920s movie palaces. The New Apollo Theater was designed by architect William A. Bennett in 1914 and was also a Chicago 7 Most Endangered in 2015.

"Many thanks to all who wrote letters of support for the recommendation of Promontory Point for Chicago landmarking. We had a tremendous outpouring of support from all over the City. The Commission on Chicago Landmarks posted on its website the written public comments they received, and, wow, there are 90 pages of comments submitted in favor of landmarking the Point!! Read them here--they start on page 33. 

"In September 2017, the National Register nomination of Promontory Point came before the Commission on Chicago Landmarks and passed unanimously before it went to Springfield and finally Washington DC for final approval and listing on January 19, 2018.

"The Point, however, was never approved as a Chicago Landmark so Preservation Chicago and the Conservancy are recommending Chicago landmarking of the Point too. (Promontory Point Blog Post)

"Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th) voiced support for city landmarking of Promontory Point at her monthly ward meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 28.

"While the Point was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2018, landmark status confers additional legal protections against alterations or demolitions, something residents worry about as the Army Corps of Engineers gears up to restart work on the area. (Belanger, Hyde Park Herald, 9/29/21)

"The Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency responsible for restoration and repair of Promontory Point, is set to begin a shoreline study of the area this October. At the same time, Hyde Park residents have relaunched their “Save the Point” campaign, started in the 1990s during an acrimonious planning process for shoreline work in the area that would have seen much of the limestone revetment replaced with concrete.

"The Point, constructed in the early part of the 20th century, has a landscape design by architect Albert Caldwell, while Emanuel V. Buchsbaum came up with the plan for the field house and pavilion. The limestone revetments were completed in 1938 as part of a Works Progress Administration project along the lakefront.

"At Wednesday’s meeting, nonprofit Preservation Chicago presented their landmark submission to the Program Committee. (The Point was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2018.)

"Mary Lu Seidel, director of community engagement at Preservation Chicago, said that the start of the Army Corps planning process could 'lead to permanent and debilitating changes to this landscape.'

"'There’s a great community concern that despite previous memorandums of agreement committing to the retention of these distinguished features, especially the limestone revetment, we need permanent protections in place to honor and protect.'

"'Where else is there such a strong sense community cultivated by only a public space? Nowhere,' read one representative letter. 'It doesn’t exist anywhere else, and if the city destroys the Point, they destroy some of this history and community with it.'" (Belanger, Hyde Park Herald, 9/22/21)

"[Fern Hill Company] Developers have recruited architect David Adjaye to overhaul several properties in Old Town, including the site of the old Treasure Island Grocery Store.

"Adjaye, known for projects like the National Museum of African American History and Culture, was selected to design buildings owned by Fern Hill and Moody Church, a historic non-denominational Christian Church at 1635 N. LaSalle Drive.

"The development, which generally surrounds the area of 1600 N. LaSalle Drive, will include:

"'We’ve asked ourselves as owners, 'Who do we take this disjointed collection of separate parcels and transition these sites to a more cohesive and inclusive vision for the community as a whole?'' said Fern Hill co-principal Nick Anderson.

Adjaye told neighbors during a virtual community meeting Wednesday he and his team 'know Chicago very well and are big fans of the city.'

"'Chicago has this extraordinary heritage of architecture, and Old Town was sort of the roots of that,' Adjaye said. 'The neighborhood has beautiful two- to three-story, Victorian-style architecture, which is why that part of the city is so distinct.'

“This is a blank canvas right now as we start,” Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) said. “You all are invited to pick up a paintbrush. Let’s decide together what we want to happen here in conjunction with Moody Church and Fern Hill.” (Wittich, Block Club Chicago, 9/30/21)

"If you glance east from the Kennedy Expressway near Goose Island this week, you might notice something missing.

"The old Morton Salt warehouse sign, long a fixture of the Chicago skyline, is being replaced.

"Developers are putting in a new roof at the site, which is set to become a music venue and office space. That will include an updated version of the iconic Morton Salt branding and logo.

"In a news release, Morton said the roof and sign enhancements will 'modernize' the brand. 'The updated logo features a fresh and friendly font, while maintaining the qualities of the original word mark, specifically the bold, all-caps type style,' the release said. 'In addition to the word mark, the company updated its Morton Salt Girl icon as part of its brand refresh. The new Morton Salt Girl has cleaner, simplified linework to fit better with the new ‘Morton Salt’ word mark.'

"Developers behind the $30 million Morton Salt project sought and received an official landmark designation from the City of Chicago earlier this year, which usually restricts what updates and changes can be made to protected properties.

"But local preservationists say the sign replacement is allowed under the building’s current status.

"'It was landmarked with the idea that they could replace the roof, because the roof needed to be replaced,' said Ward Miller, executive director of Preservation Chicago. 'The roof was not original to the historic building, it had been replaced over time as has the sign and logo look been replaced and updated over time. So it was thought that a new roof would be appropriate.'

"Miller says he hopes sections of the old roof will be saved, possibly for use as soundproofing or ornamentation in the new music hall. But ultimately, he’s just glad the building isn’t being torn down.

"'At the end of the day, the building will be reused as a new function. It’ll be a welcome function…the shape and the form is all authentic, the masonry sections are all authentic,' he said. 'It’s never an easy decision when some of these things come up. But…this is an investment in the future, and the new roof and the new sign will last probably for more than half a century.' (Myers, Block Club Chicago, 9/14/21)

Prior to its emergency demolition, the Rambler Automobile Co. Showroom was a contributing building in the Motor Row Historic Landmark District established in 2000. It was built in 1912 and designed by architects Jenney, Mundie & Jensen. It was located at 2246-58 S. Indiana Ave.

Details surrounding the neglect and demolition remain unclear, but an investigation should be conducted to hold those responsible accountable and to ensure that this circumstance is prevented in the future. Per the recently adopted City of Chicago ordinance specifically designed to prevent demolition by neglect for Designated Chicago Landmarks, sites can become ineligible for new construction for up to ten years.

Current ownership is unknown. An adaptive reuse plan had been proposed in 2014, but never moved forward. Some information regarding the failed 2014 redevelopment plan can be found in a DNA Info article from September 16, 2014.

"The bottle is out of the six pack. Guinness has tapped the West Loop to be the home of its second U.S. brewery.

"Guinness Chicago Taproom is expected to open in Fulton Market in early 2023, and more specifically — and hopefully — by St. Patrick’s Day, the iconic Irish brewer announced Tuesday.

"Jay Sethi, chief marketing officer of Diageo Beer Company, USA — a branch of Guinness’ parent company, London-based Diageo — called Chicago a 'natural choice' from a historical and business standpoint.

"'The history of Chicago, in general, fits our values, beyond just the Irish history,' said Sethi, who was born in the city and attended the University of Chicago. With Guinness, 'you see a lot of a lot of resilience in our history. Chicago has seen a lot and there’s a lot of resilience in its history.'

"Sethi said Guinness picked the trendy West Loop for its accessibility for both city and suburban residents and its architecture. In fact, the selling point for Sethi was the site: the former Pennsylvania Railroad Terminal, 375 N. Morgan St., which he called an 'X factor.'

"'I remember seeing it, being like, ‘Yep, this is it.’ Because it’s this awesome, A-line, old building that just felt like I was walking into a little bit of what a building would have in Dublin. You know, that was old, but we could make it beautiful again — something I think we do really well in Guinness,' Sethi said.

"Guinness recently signed a multi-year lease of the 15,000 square-foot venue, and hopes to start work on it this fall. The graffiti-plastered building is owned by Chicago developer Fred Latsko, who reportedly hopes to develop a 33-story office building on the vacant western edge of the property. Latsko declined to comment Tuesday, deferring to Guinness officials.

"The new pub and brewery will offer revolving menus of food and brews — including some beers available only in Chicago and others imported from various Guinness locations. However, Guinness also will continue to import its famous stout from its original brewing location in Dublin.

"Guinness Chicago Taproom hopes to pay homage to the different flavors from the city’s 200 neighborhoods with its rotating menus, Sethi said.

"Chicago, the nation’s third-most-populous city, is also the second biggest U.S. market for Guinness, according to Sethi, making it an ideal candidate to host the next Irish beer spot in North America.

"'Overall, it’s diverse. It represents so many different communities that we want to reach,' Sethi said. '... Chicago is very much just a huge Guinness city.'" (Kenney, Chicago Sun-Times, 9/21/21)

"A team of real estate developers that recently converted an old industrial building into apartments next to the planned Lincoln Yards campus on the city's North Side have purchased a building a block away where they plan a similar residential conversion.

"A venture led by Interra Realty co-founder Jon Morgan and Moline, Ill.-based Heart of America Group paid nearly $15 million for the 140,000-square-foot former Lincoln Park headquarters of Chicago nonprofit Anixter Center at 2032 N. Clybourn Ave., the buyers confirmed. The venture bought the property and a 35,000-square-foot parking lot next to it from Anixter, a 102-year-old operation that offers programming for the developmentally disabled.

"The purchase is a bet on the future transformation of the North Branch between Lincoln Park and Bucktown, which developer Sterling Bay aims to turn into Lincoln Yards, a $6 billion, 55-acre campus of offices, apartments and other uses situated among some of the city's most affluent neighborhoods.

"Heart of America Group founder Mike Whalen said the buyers plan to turn the building into 136 apartments and include other commercial uses, such as a food hall.

"With Lincoln Yards in the works, 'That's going to be a powerful area over the next 10 to 15 years,' Whalen said, noting his group and Morgan have had plenty of success leasing up Southport Lofts, a four-story building their group redeveloped into apartments and completed last year. Morgan, who leads Chicago-based commercial real estate brokerage Interra, was not immediately available to comment.

"The plan for the building has made a good first impression with neighborhood groups, said 2nd Ward Ald. Brian Hopkins, who prioritized that the existing building—made up of several connected three- and four-story buildings—be preserved. He praised the plan to reuse the structure and noted the significance of a developer planning a residential project 'in the plume of General Iron,' the controversial scrap metal recycler that ceased operations at the end of 2020 just steps from the Anixter Center building.

"Anixter originally listed the now-vacant property for sale in 2017 after the city opened up to new commercial uses a 760-acre stretch of historically industrial land along the North Branch of the Chicago River. Developers like Sterling Bay were snapping up properties at the time to redevelop the gritty corridor." (Ecker, Crain's Chicago Business, 9/23/21)

The adaptive reuse process of "The Jewel Laundry” Building located at 1730 W. Greenleaf Avenue has been in motion since 2017. The plans required an upzoning request. Preservation Chicago had been in early conversations with key decision-makers and helped polish this development. We supported the adaptive reuse proposal and spoke on its behalf at a community meeting on June 14, 2017 at the Ethiopian Community Center of Chicago.

The “Jewel Laundry” Building is classified as orange-rated by the Chicago Historic Resources Survey which highlights the building’s “Prairie and Sullivanesque” ornamentation and detailing. Preservation Chicago worked with developer, Dave Gassman, and alderman's office to help shape an adaptive reuse plan that embraced the authenticity and beauty of the historic building while allowing the development program to be accomplished. The historic façade was restored as part of the redevelopment plan. A new two-story addition was be added to the top of the building with a set-back behind the existing historic façade.

This white terra cotta commercial building was the long-time location of Maya Romanoff Corporation wallpaper and textiles plant until 2008 when it became the Ethiopian Community Center of Chicago. The historic building was designed by Aroner & Somers and dates to circa 1915.

Additional Reading

 "A cornerstone of Chicago’s once-bustling meatpacking industry has a shot at a new life after sitting empty for almost half a century.

"The Stock Yards Bank building has towered over the corner of Halsted Street and Exchange Avenue since 1925, withstanding a fire that wiped out much of the surrounding yards in 1934 and a drastically shifting workforce since the stockyards closed in 1971.

"Modeled after Independence Hall in Philadelphia, the building housed financial institutions for decades and, later, a handful of businesses for its last years of operation. It was closed in 1973, which led to more deterioration and 8 feet of standing water in the basement for nearly a decade.

"Now, it is poised for revival. Developers and city officials spent part of the past year stabilizing the building and repairing the most severe damage. With the building structurally sound again, local leaders said they hope someone will step up to redevelop it into a modern amenity that can anchor the South Side community as the bank once did.

"'I think this would be a tremendous catalyst,' said Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11th), whose ward includes the building. 'I think having a vibrant Stockyard Bank Building will just help solidify that part of the community.'

"The bank, 4120 S. Halsted St., sits east of the Union Stock Yards gate, one of the entrances to the meatpacking industry. At 45,000 square feet, it was built to meet the need of the burgeoning 1920s economy.

"Abraham Epstein designed the building; he later became renowned for his role in designing the stock yards after the 1934 fire, which destroyed structures around the bank. The building has steel framing with concrete floor slabs, and it’s decked out with terracotta and ornate details. The lobby has 19-foot-high ceilings, marble floors and pendant chandeliers.

"The building has its quirks, too. Tucked into a column in the first-floor lobby is a pill box where guards watched over the halls of the financial hub. The spot was used to deter robberies by the rifle-wielding security team.

"Frances Rovituso-Strange, a coordinating architect with the city’s Assets, Information and Services department, said such grandiose details are unheard of in modern construction, which is dominated by buildings of 'glass and steel.' 'This type of architecture is just not feasible anymore,' she said.

"The two banks that originally called the building home merged, and the institution moved out in 1965. The Union Stock Yards closed midnight July 30, 1971, and the bank building has been closed since 1973.

"The city bought the building in 2000, saving it from demolition. Officials did minor renovations in 2007 and granted it landmark status in 2008.

"'If we were to tear down buildings like this, that have so much history, our future generations would not have a clue as to what encompassed Chicago and how it developed and how it progressed and what influenced what is going on today,' Rovituso-Strange said. 'It has so much history and beauty to it that to demolish something like that would just be a crime, in my opinion.'

"Wight & Company completed the $1.5 million in upgrades over the last few months of 2020. Ornate pieces like the exterior terracotta were removed and stored inside the building. The 8 feet of water in the basement was pumped out, revealing intensive damage — and multiple bank vaults. The crew cleaned and tuckpointed the south facade to show what the building will look like when it’s redone.

"'We were really impressed when we got on the inside because it’s a really beautiful building. The proportions are wonderful,' Steffes said. 'The materials were high quality, and some of those still exists. It’s got wonderful light, and it has a lot of opportunity to it. You don’t have to rebuild it back. You don’t have to mimic it or adjust something in its like. It is physically there, and it’s in good shape. And so with some minimal effort, this thing can be brought back to its glory days and be a true representation of what the community was.'

"Any rehab of the building would need to meet modern code requirements, comply with historical guidelines and get approval from the Chicago Landmarks Commission. Reviving the building could cost $20-25 million, officials said.

"And Thompson still holds out hope his plan could come to fruition. The first floor could be converted into a restaurant, using the square footage for dining and a banquet hall. The alderman suggested a steakhouse, a hat tip to the area’s past. The second story could be a museum honoring to the city’s history as 'hog butcher for the world,' as immortalized in Carl Sandburg’s poem.

"'It’s not just to have the building there, but it’s more to have the building there with a connection to what it meant, and a connection to what the stockyards meant to the city,' Thompson said." (Boyle, Block Club Chicago, 8/17/21)

"When Jerald Gary unlocks the doors of the theater now called the Avalon Regal, he enters a wonderland, almost a museum, from another age in culture and escapism. But he carries with him heavy burdens from today.

"The theater near 79th Street and Stony Island Avenue is a Chicago landmark, eminently deserving the honor. It’s an exotic stew of styles — Arabian Nights meets King Arthur — and is largely preserved despite many years of disuse and neglect. Much of that is to Gary’s credit.

"Since taking over the property in 2014 in a still-evolving private venture, Gary has secured the place and overseen the start of plumbing work. There is vast restoration left, but it starts with a fabulous canvas and a place in the heart of African Americans who remember it as an elegant showcase for performances by Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie and many others, some depicted on an outdoor mural along one wall that dates from the 1980s. For most of its life, the theater was the Avalon. A revival made it the New Regal in 1987 as a homage to a lost venue serving the Black community. Gary’s new name blends the eras.

"'Look how ridiculous that ceiling is,' Gary said, pointing above the lobby to a design like a Persian rug that includes glass fixtures so fine they hang like threads. In the auditorium, the walls suggest patrons are seated in a palace courtyard beneath a starry sky. Signs for long-ago patrons are in English but with Arabic styling. 'Be seated, I beg you,' says one.

"Everywhere, there is a need for new paint and plaster that requires not just labor but craftsmanship. Gary is planning on improvements to the heating and air conditioning and he’d like solar panels on the roof, figuring he can take one of South Shore’s largest and tallest buildings off the grid.

"Gary said it’ll take maybe $10 million to get the place ready for a close-up. Thirty-six years old and with a background in finance and music, Gary doesn’t have that kind of scratch. He’s got connections, having previously worked at LaSalle Bank and served as an intern for Barack Obama when he was a U.S. senator. There, he got to know Ken Williams-Bennett, better known today as the dad of Chance the Rapper. There’s also the matter of Kanye West, who now wants to be called Ye. West surfaced in 2018 with a $1 million pledge for Gary’s vision. That pledge is a work in progress. Gary declined to discuss it but said he hopes to provide an update soon.

"Gary gets the skepticism but chalks up some of it to pushback whenever a disadvantaged community seeks self-sufficiency. He tries to focus on the possibilities. “We’re three minutes from the Obama [Center]. … It just takes time. This is going to be the new Harlem, the new Brooklyn. I’m just hopeful that we can hold on.”

"Celine Wysgalla remembers the first time she stepped foot into Crystal Gardens as a 5-year-old, her tiny body overshadowed by ancient trees that towered above her.

"For more than two decades, the indoor garden at Chicago’s Navy Pier has been a cherished escape from bustling city life, a reminder of the peace and quiet reflection that only comes with being immersed in nature. But the beloved tropical garden, which has always been free to the public, is set to be replaced with a new paid digital experience.

"Now a 25-year-old recent graduate of the University of Illinois Chicago, where she earned her master’s degree in environmental health, Wysgalla is leading an effort to save the one-acre indoor garden.

"'The Gardens offer a chance to interact with nature and increase your appreciation for the natural world. There is nothing like the Crystal Gardens in Chicago, and it is one of very few free indoor green spaces available to the people of this community,' Wysgalla told CNN.

"'I know how precious green space is and how rare it is to have an indoor space like this in the city, so I would be devastated if the Crystal Gardens were torn down.' Crystal Gardens is currently home to more than 80 soaring palm trees and enormous monstera plants, among other tropical greenery, all enclosed inside a six-story glass atrium scattered with dancing fountains.

"Wysgalla launched a petition on September 16 to save the garden. It has so far garnered more than 18,000 signatures. She also started an Instagram account, dedicated to saving the garden, where hundreds of people have left comments sharing their memories of Crystal Gardens and their hopes of protecting it.

"As the clock keeps ticking, edging closer and closer to the end of Crystal Gardens, Chicagoans who call the garden a sanctuary say they will fight for it until the end. (CNN and WTTW Chicago, 10/4/21)

"The Elijah Muhammad House in Kenwood is one step closer to landing on the National Register of Historic Places, while advocates for Promontory Point made their case for a city landmark designation at a meeting of the Commission on Chicago Landmarks’s Program Committee on Sept. 22.

"The Program Committee reviews public landmark suggestions for buildings and areas in the city and forwards them to the city’s Department of Planning and Development. (It does not vote on the suggestions.) Becoming a landmark confers legal protections on a property, including against alterations or demolition. The committee also considers nominations to the National Register of Historic Places, a federal list of historically significant landmarks.

"The Elijah Muhammad House, 4847 S. Woodlawn Ave., is already part of the Kenwood Landmark District, whose borders are 47th Street to 51st Street and South Blackstone Avenue to South Drexel Avenue. Elijah Muhammad, the longtime leader of the Nation of Islam, lived in Kenwood until his death in 1975. At Wednesday’s meeting, the house was up for a nomination to the National Register.

"Wendy Muhammad bought the house in 2018 and plans to turn it into a museum. The property was at the center of a short-lived controversy this past March, when Ald. Sophia King (4th) proposed and subsequently withdrew an ordinance that would require city permission for some cultural exhibits and libraries, including many house museums, before they could be built. (The Muhammad house had already received its permits by then, and so would not have been affected by the legislation.)

"Suellen Burns and Richard Tolliver, the two Landmarks Commission members at the Program Committee meeting, both recommended that the property be nominated for the National Register. The project will be considered by the full commission at its Oct. 7 meeting."(Belanger, Hyde Park Herald, 9/22/21)

"A fire swept through a three-story apartment building that once was home to singer and guitarist Bo Diddley.

"Firefighters were called to the scene at 4746 S. Langley Ave. around 7 p.m. Monday. They rescued six residents, none of whom sustained injuries.

"The building was severely damaged, and the city’s department of buildings has been contacted, Chicago Fire Department spokesperson Larry Merritt said. The cause of the fire isn’t clear.

"The classic greystone was where Diddley, born Elias Bates McDaniel, moved with his family from McComb, Mississippi in 1936 when he was seven. Writer and former Sun-Times columnist Dave Hoekstra wrote in 2004 Diddley then learned to play classical violin and guitar at Ebenezer Baptist Church, then made his own box-shaped guitars while a student at Foster Vocational School. (Nesbitt Golden, Block Club Chicago, 9/21/21)

Preservation Chicago has long advocated for the creation of a Chicago Jazz, Blues and Gospel Thematic Chicago Landmark District to recognize, celebrate and protect the places and spaces in Chicago where legends like Bo Diddley lived, performed, and made history!

"When Serhiy Kovalchuk began preaching at St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral in 2018, he noticed the church’s ornate beauty — and its deteriorating physical condition. There were holes and cracks, and the roof leaked — sometimes during services — when it rained. Then, in the middle of Mass a few years ago, a piece of stone fell from the church’s vaulted ceiling, crashing just a few feet away from him.

"That near miss was a sign extensive repairs were long overdue for the cathedral, 835 N. Oakley Blvd., which has been an anchor of cultural identity in Ukrainian Village for more than a century. A multi-phase renovation is about halfway done, but church leaders still need to raise about $4 million to complete it within the next couple of years.

"St. Nicholas has raised about $2.5 million of its goal of $6.6 million. About $1 million of that will be recirculated to other Ukrainian Catholic churches around the United States.

"The parish is soliciting a mix of private donations and grants and is looking into more creative ways to raise funds, like offering naming rights to each of the cathedral’s new domes. Ultimately, St. Nicholas administrators hope to finish the project — inside and out — by the end of 2023. But that timeline will depend on how fast the church can bring in dollars.

"'This church, it’s really an important place not just for Ukrainian community, [but] I think for all Chicago,' Kovalchuk said.

"As Ukrainian Village has gentrified and grown more expensive in recent decades, many St. Nicholas members moved out to the suburbs and started attending new churches. Skubiak said that resulted in years of deferred maintenance that brought the cathedral to its current state. But St. Nicholas’s elders and leadership remain dedicated to the parish, and many feel a personal duty to complete the restoration.

"Work on the church’s western exterior is expected to wrap up this fall. The scaffolding that’s covered the cathedral’s entrance for the past several months could be taken down as soon as Friday. The next step — addressing the cathedral’s exterior middle section — is the most elaborate. It includes replacing nine domes, on top of general masonry and roof work. They hope to start that work in the spring, if they have the funding.

"'If you don’t protect your history, if you let that go by the wayside, just close the cathedral, I think it’s a huge loss of heritage, of our history, of who we are,' Skubiak said. 'When you walk into that cathedral, and you see things tearing down and leaking and everything, how could you in your right mind come and celebrate liturgy, and really feel comfortable when you haven’t done anything to really show respect to the house of God?' Popowych said. 'Shame on us with we don’t do this.' (Myers, Block Club Chicago, 9/28/21)

You can donate to the St. Nicholas fundraiser here. For more information, email Mariya Kokor at mariya.kokor@esnucc.org.

"Truly unique opportunity in Chicago's South Shore community - just steps to Lake Michigan. The former St. Bride Church and Rectory are being offered as a package. The church was designed as a French Gothic edifice comprised of brick and stone accents. The actual dedication of the church was in June, 1909. The main level worship, altar, and sacristy space is approximately 4, 800 sq ft. The church has ten double stained glass windows and a choir loft. There are 51 pews of various sizes circling a raised altar, seating for nearly 350 worshippers. The church has a full basement which houses a large meeting/gathering space, a full kitchen, a raised stage area, and two restrooms. The basement has nearly 4, 200 sq ft.

"The rectory to the south of the church was built in 1925 of similar French Gothic design and on the site of the original church. It's a 2.5-story building of brick and stone with a clay roof. The main level has three offices, a chapel, a full-sized kitchen with butler's pantry, an expansive formal dining room, 1.1 baths, and extra closet space. The upper level has a large Pastor's suite at the front of the building - living room/office area, a primary bedroom with private bath, closet, and an enclosed porch/sunroom. The remainder of the upper level has five additional bedroom suites with three full bathrooms. The center hallway has a domed ceiling and access to the top level which had been used as recreational space. The full basement is partially finished and houses the heating system - a six-year-old Weil McLain boiler which fuels the radiators throughout the building. There is a 100-gallon water tank. There are two electrical panel - one with circuit breakers, the other with fuses. The sump pump system is about three years old. Laundry facilities and plenty of storage also exist in the basement.

"A concrete side drive separates the church and rectory. At the end of the drive way is an all brick 2-car garage. Above the garage is a brick breezeway or "bridge" that was built to provide interior access from the rectory to the church. There are separate PINs - 0000 (the church which sits on a 138'x135' lot); and 0000 (the rectory and green space on a lot measuring 35'x198'). Final lot size will be determined by the survey. Property is currently tax exempt. Looking for a visionary to transform or repurpose this historic part of South Shore. (Former St. Bride Church Listing on Weichert.com)

"St. Bride Church, built in a French Gothic style, was established in 1893 as a mission of St. Kevin Church at 105th and Torrence Avenue to serve 45 families who lived north of 87th Street, in the neighborhoods of South Shore, Windsor Park, and Cheltenham.

"In 1907, the parishioners voted to build a new church, and in September ground was broken at the southeast corner of 78th Street and Coles Avenue. The cornerstone was laid on June 14, 1908. On June 6, 1909, the new St. Bride Church, with a seating capacity of 600, was dedicated by Archbishop James E. Quigley. The parish roster then listed 300 families.

"The old mission church was remodeled into a school, which opened in September 1909. The St. Bride School was the first Catholic grammar school in South Shore. The following year, Rev. O’Sullivan died and was succeeded as pastor by Rev. William J. Lynch, who began construction of a new school. In 1911, a new school opened with a capacity of 400 students.

"For several decades, South Shore was a largely Catholic and Jewish neighborhood. However, the demographics changed beginning in the late 1960s when South Shore became a majority Black neighborhood. New and old parishioners celebrated the 75th anniversary of St. Bride Church in December 1968. During the 1970s, ties were strengthened between the new Black and Haitian parishioners and the older parishioners of Irish and German descent. By 2005, student enrollment had declined to such an extent that St. Bride School closed its doors in June, with the graduation of its 96th class.

"In 2020, all four of the South Shore parishes, including St. Bride, were merged by the Chicago Archdiocese into one newly created parish, Our Lady and Ss. Bride and Philip Neri. On July 1, 2020, St. Bride Church was closed. Our Lady of Peace and Our Lady Gate of Heaven were also closed. St. Philip Neri Church is now the surviving Catholic church in South Shore." (Preservation Chicago 7 Most Endangered 2021)

"Plamen Yordanov stands in the center of an abandoned church, surrounded by wooden debris and broken pews.

"This dilapidated church, 6950 S. Stewart Ave., is home to the Plamen Art Foundation, an arts and culture hub Yordanov and his wife, Iuliana Foghis, dream of bringing to Englewood. The couple wants to transform the 114-year-old building into a place for live shows, exhibitions and community art classes.

"But the couple is facing a six-figure price tag just to make the first, critical renovations and move forward with their plan. As money runs low and winter approaches, without proper help, the couple said their Englewood dream might end before it fully begins.

"When Foghis saw the Englewood church in 2018, she 'fell in love with it, she said. The Love, Faith and Praise Church of God in Christ was badly damaged in a fire in 2012. The building sat vacant for years. Windows were shattered, the roof had gaping holes and old, broken pews were left behind, Yordanov said. But something about the place was 'magical.' 'I saw the interior; the windows, the balcony and the stage,' Foghis said. 'The space felt right. We felt like [the church] was meant for this.'

"The couple inherited a roughly $108,000 mortgage and a nearly $50,000 water bill when they secured the rights to the church, they said.

"Despite the hefty cost, the artistic duo stayed hopeful, Yordanov said.'We saw the potential,' said Yordanov, a native of Bulgaria whose work has been exhibited globally. 'We saw a space for exhibitions and art classes. We thought the stage could be kept for concerts and lectures. I thought I could do a lot of what’s needed, [like] restoring the stained windows, and during the process, we could get help and volunteers.'

"Three years later, the couple has 'hit a wall,' Yordanov said. Attempts to apply for grants and fellowships have been unsuccessful, Foghis said. For the past few years, they’ve applied for the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund, a city award that finances projects on the South, Southwest and West sides, Foghis said. All applications were denied.

"'We put everything into what we have here, including our time,' Yordanov said. 'We exhausted our resources. We cannot put more money into this. We are trying to make lemonade from lemons.'

"The duo estimates they will need $500,000 to renovate the entire church, but $150,000 would be enough to secure the roof, Yordanov said.

What keeps a sliver of their dream alive, Yordanov said, is how the foundation could contribute to a community that’s built up its own vibrant art and cultural scene, hosting its first music festival this month and regularly organizing public art projects to instill pride in the neighborhood.

“The vision isn’t a restaurant or housing. It’s art. Imagine all the programs we could bring to this place. It’s hard to give that up,” Yordanov said. (Reed, Block Club Chicago, 9/30/21)

"As of September 2, 2021 it seems that the beautiful terra cotta face that has looked down over Devon Avenue for more than 100 years is no more. No one is quite sure what happened, but there was scaffolding on the building and someone was chipping away at it in the morning, and it was gone by the afternoon. And the Assyrian American Association name is no longer on the building either.

"The New Devon Theater, with its distinctively austere glazed block façade featuring a large arch and a large bust of a woman’s face, was built in 1912, and was quickly eclipsed by the nearby Ellantee Theater. It disappears from news listings after October, 1917.

"By 1923 it had been converted to a Ford dealership. By 1936 it had become an American Legion hall. In the 1950s it operated as a radio and TV store. Since 1963, it has served Chicago’s Assyrian community as the home of the Assyrian American Association of Chicago." (Cinema Treasures)

"An extra-alarm fire broke out late Monday in a historic building in Pilsen. The fire was raging at 5:40 p.m. at 1125 W. 18th St. The Fire Department called a 2-11 alarm for extra equipment and personnel.

"Flames were seen shooting from the roof of the building. The Fire Department reported the blaze affected the top floor through the roof.

"The building is part of the Pilsen Historic District. The City of Chicago reports local architect Anton C. Charvat designed the three-and-a-half story building for Bohemian Immigrant undertakers the Urban Brothers.

"The Queen Anne-style building also features some Gothic Revival architectural details. 'Clad in light brown brick, the walk-up has an engaged corner tower, limestone belt courses, Gothic windows in the corner façade of its storefront, and a limestone Gothic Revival style entryway with the word ‘Morticians’ inscribed over the door,' a Chicago landmark designation report reads. 'Albert and John Urban worked in the 1902 building and lived in apartments above with their families. They rented the third unit to tenants.'

"While the document dated the building to 1902, the Fire Department estimated it was built far longer ago – around 1880."' (CBS 2 Chicago, 9/20/21)

It is with great sadness that we share the news of the unexpected passing of Richard H. Driehaus of natural causes on March 9, 2021 at the age of 78. His brilliance for business was surpassed only by his passion for philanthropy.

He founded Driehaus Capital Management which became one of Chicago's largest and most successful investment firms. In 1983, he created the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation and used his fortune to powerfully support historic preservation, the arts and community organizations throughout Chicago and the nation.

"Reflecting on nearly two decades in philanthropy, Richard wrote, 'I have devoted my professional life to the field of financial management and have been blessed with remarkable success. I recognize, however, that the measure of one's personal holdings is of less importance than the impact of our collective aspirations made real. I have further come to understand that maximizing the impact of donated dollars can be considerably more challenging than earning those dollars in the first place.

"Philanthropy enriched Richard's life immeasurably, and he would often paraphrase Winston Churchill's quote: 'We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.'

"'Richard was a dear friend, my professional mentor, and a lifelong philanthropist,' said Anne Lazar, executive director of the Driehaus Foundation in their news release. 'He spent decades making an impact in Chicago and his legacy will live on through his foundation. He was a true gentleman of grace and humility, and it is the foundation's honor and privilege to continue Richard's legacy of support.'" (Driehaus Foundation statement)

"'Richard led a life of zest and intellectual curiosity. His path and personal story were larger than life, and the impact he made as an investor is perhaps only rivaled by the extensive legacy he left as a philanthropist,' said Steve Weber, president and CEO of Driehaus Capital Management, in their news release. 'Our thoughts are with his daughters Tereza, Caroline and Kate, his sisters Dorothy and Elizabeth, and his extended family. Richard will be dearly missed by all who were fortunate enough to know him.'" (Driehaus Capital Management statement)

"'Richard’s an amazing person,' said David Bahlman, the former president of the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois. 'The causes he supports and the projects he has funded over the years have had a great impact on the appreciation of art and architecture in Chicago.' (Sharoff, Chicago Magazine, 9/27/2007)

"In 2015, he received the AIA Chicago Lifetime Achievement Award to recognize his tireless support of historic preservation and sponsorship of architecture award programs and design competitions. Zurich Esposito, former AIA Chicago executive vice president, said, 'Richard's engagement with preservation, his recognition of working architects, and his philanthropic reach have had an immeasurable impact on the practice. His commitment to classical architectural and planning ideas, forms and principles—coupled with his willingness to support and embolden those actively working in the profession—has left a lasting legacy on the contemporary landscape.' (Massie, Architect Magazine, 8/6/2015)

His deep commitment to Chicago's architectural heritage lead him to purchase and beautifully restore the 1883 Samuel Mayo Nickerson Mansion which serves the Richard H. Driehaus Museum of Decorative Arts and the 1886 Richardsonian Romanesque Ransom Cable Mansion which serves as headquarters for Driehaus Capital Management.

"'It’s my gift to the city. The museum is about protecting the past. The idea is to display the period, the materials and objects, and to organize that as a whole experience. It’s not about any one object. It’s about the environment, the space,' said Richard Driehaus in a 2007 Chicago Magazine profile regarding the Driehaus Museum of Decorative Arts and the restoration of the Nickerson mansion. (Sharoff, Chicago Magazine, 9/27/2007)

Richard Driehaus and the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation was a longtime friend and supporter of Preservation Chicago. We are deeply grateful for his long support for our organization, our mission, and for the preservation movement in Chicago. He will be dearly missed, but his legacy will live on through all of his incredible achievements during his lifetime and through so many preservation wins yet to come.

The Demolition Delay Ordinance, adopted by City Council in 2003, establishes a hold of up to 90 days in the issuance of any demolition permit for certain historic buildings in order that the Department of Planning and Development can explore options, as appropriate, to preserve the building, including but not limited to Landmark designation.

The ordinance applies to buildings rated red and orange in the Chicago Historic Resources Survey (CHRS), but it should be modified to include all buildings included in the survey. These buildings are designated on the city's zoning map. The delay period starts at the time the permit application is presented to the department's Historic Preservation Division offices and can be extended beyond the original 90 days by mutual agreement with the applicant. The purpose of the ordinance is to ensure that no important historic resource can be demolished without consideration as to whether it should and can be preserved.

Preservation Chicago is advocating to extend the existing Demolition Delay Ordinance to at least 180 days or longer, in order to create the time community members, stakeholders, decision makers, and elected officials need to conduct robust discussions regarding the fate of these historic buildings and irreplaceable Chicago assets. The support of the Mayor and City Council is necessary to advance this effort.

Address: 2622 N. Dayton St., Lincoln Park

#100943432

Date Received: 10/08/2021

Ward: 43rd Ward Ald. Michele Smith

Applicant: Tir Conaill Concrete, Inc. C/O Charlotte McVeigh

Owner: David Hansen

Permit Description: Wreck and removal of a single-family, frame residential building and garage.

Status: Under Review

Address: 4323 N. Paulina St., Ravenswood

#100941425

Date Received: 09/29/2021

Ward: 47th Ward Ald. Matt Martin

Applicant: American Demolition Corporation

Owner: GXSR, LLC C/O Josephine Cronnolly and Thomas Taylor, Managers

Permit Description: Demolition of a two-story, frame, single-family residential building.

Status: Under Review

Address: Commonwealth Edison Substation, by Hermann von Holst, 747-751 W. 82nd St., Auburn Gresham

#100937610

Date Received: 08/31/2021

Ward: 21st Ward Ald. Howard B. Brookins Jr.

Applicant: Alpine Demolition Services, LLC

Owner: Commonwealth Edison Company C/O Leon Guaquil

Permit Description: Demolition of a 1-story, masonry substation building Fieldhouse for the

Address: Salerno Cookie Factory, 4450 and 4500 W. Division St., Humboldt Park

#100930920

Date Received: 07/15/2021

Ward: 37th Ward Ald. Emma Mitts

Applicant: American Demolition Corporation

Owner: Amazon.com Services LLC

Permit Description: Demolition of buildings.

"An Art Deco-era factory that has long anchored a stretch of Division Street in Humboldt Park is currently being demolished. According to preservationists, the building that spans from 4422 to 4500 West Division Street was listed on the city's 90 day demolition delay list, but was released before that period had been reached.

"The sprawling factory was once home to the Salerno Butter Cookie company, and similar to the old Wrigley Gum Factory and the Brach Candy Factory which have also been demolished in the last couple of years, helped make Chicago the 'Candy Capital of the World.' In a joint statement, Preservation Chicago's Ward Miller and Andrew Schneider reveal that preservationists were not made aware of the situation until it was too late.

"'The former Salerno Cookie Factory, home of that familiar and delicious butter cookie, at 4500 W. Division, an orange-rated building, has apparently been cleared for demolition, despite the fact that it is a rare example of famed architect Harold Zook in an industrial context,' Miller and Schneider state.

"'The building appeared on the city's mandatory demolition delay hold list, that typically requires buildings of significant architectural merit to be held for 90 days. That doesn't appear to have happened in this case. The application to demolish the building was received by the city on June 29 and was released little more than one week later, on July 8, 2015.'

"In addition, Miller says that there has been no word on why the city did not allow the full demolition delay hold to complete its cycle.

"The building is certainly a unique example of Chicago's history of a confection capital but also of striking Art Deco design of Harold Zook. After the Salerno company left the factory behind, the building was home to a graphic imaging company and then later a small parts supplier. While demolition has started on the factory, Miller hopes that the main entrance will be preserved and readapted." (LaTrace, Curbed Chicago, 7/24/15)

Address: 1851 and 1853 N. Leavitt Street, Bucktown

#100913335 and #100929919

Date Received: 07/13/2021

Ward: 32nd Ward Ald. Scott Waguespack

Applicant: Evergreen Solution USA Inc.

Owner: 1853-51 N. Leavitt LLC

Permit Description: Wreck and remove a 2-story masonry multi-unit residence.

Address: 940 W. Cuyler Avenue, Buena Park

#100926339

Date Received: 06/10/2021

Ward: 46th Ward Ald. James Cappleman

Applicant: Taylor Excavating & Construction, Inc.

Owner: 940 West Cuyler, LLC C/O Josephine Cronnolly

Permit Description: Demolition of a 2-story, 4-unit masonry residence and detached garage.

“It’s an old, common cry in a city where demolition and development are often spoken in the same breath, and where trying to save historic homes from the wrecking ball can feel as futile as trying to stop the snow. My Twitter feed teems with beautiful houses doomed to vanish in the time it takes to say ‘bulldozed.’ Bungalows, two-flats, three-flats, greystones, workers’ cottages. The photos, posted by people who lament the death of Chicago’s tangible past, flit through my social media feed like a parade of the condemned en route to the guillotine,” mused Mary Schmich in her Chicago Tribune column on July 12, 2018.

"It’s been 150 years since the last embers from the Great Fire flickered out, leaving behind a smoldering city with the will and the money to rebuild.

"And it did. Chicago virtually remade itself within 20 years. New buildings sprang up downtown and in other areas ravaged by the conflagration. Millions of tons of rubble from the fire were dumped into the lake, creating landfill that would be planted and reshaped into Grant Park and portions of Burnham Park, just south of current day Roosevelt Road.

"Confident and reenergized, Chicago in 1889 annexed the 125-square-mile crescent of townships around the edges of the city. In one sweep, Chicago tripled in physical size, picked up 225,000 new residents.

"The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 — terrible, costly, deadly — changed the city in myriad ways. And it had a big hand in making Chicago an architectural capital.

"The fire altered the way we constructed buildings and protected them from fire. The blaze shaped the planning and development of neighborhoods as populations moved to join those who were forming and populating new communities outside of the fire zone.

"'There was a feeling among historians that everyone knows about the fire and ‘yeah it was bad, but it didn’t change the city much,’ and the fire has been exaggerated in Chicago history,” said D. Bradford Hunt, professor and chairman of the history department at Loyola University Chicago.

"'But the Great Fire transformed lives in Chicago and gave the city [a reputation as] a place of renewal, progress and great possibilities,' he said, referencing an entry on the fire in the Encyclopedia of Chicago.

"For better and for worse, this is true. Skyscrapers, fire-resistant buildings, breathtaking architecture and the eye-popping structures of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition came in the decades following the fire — and were writ deeply into the city’s genetic code.

"But, arguably, so was the city’s tendency to clear away entire neighborhoods, often with haste, and build new, to barrel expressways through communities or plant the first McCormick Place convention center building right on the lakefront. (Bey, Chicago Sun-Times, 10/8/21)

"The Great Chicago Fire, which lasted from October 8-10, 1871, destroyed most of Chicago from what is today Roosevelt Road to Fullerton Avenue and from Lake Michigan to the Chicago River. Almost 100,000 Chicagoans lost their homes and several hundred lost their lives during the three days the fire burned.

"The water works may have failed to function in the middle of the fire, but when the last of the embers cooled, that stone tower stood tall amid the ruin, proving a point around which all the city could rally and rebuild.

"But the Water Tower was not the sole survivor of the fire. The Mahlon D. Ogden House, the Lind Block and the Relic House each tell a piece of Chicago’s history. And while these structures 'survived' the fire, they were all torn down in the decades that followed as the city grew, neighborhoods gentrified and developers came knocking.

"The Mahlon D. Ogden House - By 1871 Mahlon Ogden was living with his second wife and three children in a two-story mansion just north of the fashionable Washington Square Park, which still exists today, at Clark and Walton Streets on the Near North Side. When the fire struck on October 8th, 1871, Ogden and his family weren’t home. Their house was saved thanks to the efforts of some guests staying there and, presumably, the family’s servants.

"The open space of Washington Square Park slowed the fire’s advance while those inside took everything made of cloth — curtains, carpets, blankets and sheets — and soaked them in well water and cider in the cellar. Then they wrapped the outside of the house like a mummy and waited out the flames.

"When the fire had passed and eventually was extinguished by the rain that fell on October 9th, Washington Square Park lay in ruins. Its majestic elm trees had been reduced to ash and its elegant iron fencing had melted into large, tangled lumps. But the Ogden house stood unscathed. As the Chicago Tribune reported, 'The house of Mr. Mahlon D. Ogden, on Dearborn street and Lafayette place, was not even scorched.'

"More than two decades later, readers of the Chicago Tribune opened up the October 9, 1893 edition and were gifted with a full-color illustration of the Ogden house. The accompanying text proclaimed, 'as the sole survivor on the north side it will always be famous.'

"This was the year of the World’s Columbian Exposition and October 9th was Chicago Day at the World’s Fair. The special ticket for that day included an illustration of the mythical Phoenix rising from the flames — for that was how Chicago saw itself 22 years after the fire, a city reborn.

"But Chicagoans wouldn’t have been able to see the Mahlon D. Ogden house on that day. Soon after the fire, Ogden suffered financial troubles and the trustees of the Walter Loomis Newberry estate saw an opportunity to snatch up some valuable land. They tore down the mansion and erected, as a Tribune article from October 9, 1893 put it, the 'magnificent new Newberry Library Building'

"There were no protests when the house came down. The public’s ideas about what was important and worth saving were different back then, and as the article went on to say, 'in Chicago all things change.'

"The Lind Block - The Lind Block took its name from Sylvester Lind, the man who built it in the early 1850s. Lind owned a lumberyard on the site and continued to use the area for that purpose after building the five-story commercial building. He also owned a fleet of boats. But it’s been reported that Lind didn’t just use his boats for transporting lumber around the Great Lakes.

"He was a staunch abolitionist and a conductor on the Underground Railroad. Escaped enslaved people would board one of his boats on the docks near the Lind Block and then sail from Chicago to freedom in Canada. As one of the only commercial buildings left standing after the fire, the Lind Block soon became a place of refuge. For three days, Hall gave away what had been in his grocery to fellow Chicagoans made homeless and destitute because of the fire.

"A connection to the Great Fire and the Underground Railroad should have made a good case for giving the Lind Block landmark status. Instead, it was torn down to make room for developers coming in to build new construction in the Loop.

"In a January 1963 column titled 'Oldest Building in Loop Succumbs to Progress,' the Tribune’s Will Leonard lamented the loss of such an important historic building, writing, 'snow of 111 winters had melted on the [Lind Block’s] roof, the sunshine of 110 summers warmed its wall. A few years ago, an officer of the engineering firm that owned the oldest building in downtown Chicago said proudly: ‘It’ll be here another 100 years.’ Today they are tearing it down.' (Durica, WBEZ Chicago, 10/7/21)

"Paul Durica is the director of exhibitions at the Newberry Library.

"On a hot and dry October night in 1871, a cow kicked over a lantern in Mrs. O’Leary’s barn, starting a blaze that rose up from her modest Near Southwest Side home, leapt the Chicago River and burned down a large portion of the nascent prairie metropolis.

"Or so goes the legend of the Great Chicago Fire, popularized in a version of the song, 'A Hot Time in the Old Town.' The City Council officially exonerated Mrs. O’Leary and her cow in 1997, and the true cause may never be known. But the conflagration itself was far more devastating than the oft-sung camp ditty led generations of schoolchildren to believe.

"The Great Chicago Fire wiped out a third of the bustling young city in two days of raging flames, destroying nearly every building in its downtown. Then, in a part of the story that never made it into song, Chicago immediately began rebuilding, laying the foundation for the great world city it would become.

'They rebuilt the downtown within two years, which is miraculous,' said Carl Smith, a Northwestern University professor and expert on the Great Chicago Fire.

"The Great Rebuilding is often cited as a testament to the indomitable spirit of Chicago. It may also shed some light on the way forward, 150 years after the fire, as the city looks to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, which has left the future of its downtown in doubt once again.

"Founded in 1833, Chicago rapidly evolved from a small frontier trading post along Lake Michigan into a growing center of agriculture, manufacturing and transportation, linking the East and West coasts by rail and creating the first quintessentially American-made city. By 1870, Chicago was the fifth-largest city in the U.S., with nearly 300,000 residents and a booming, diversified economy." (Channick, Chicago Tribune, 9/27/21)

"Hardly any rain had fallen on Chicago for months, and the drought was getting worse. Over the 22 days leading up to October 8, 1871, it had rained only once — a measly 0.11 inches. 'Under the burning sun for so many weeks, the whole city became virtually a tinderbox,' recalled William Bross, one of the Chicago Tribune’s owners.

"A mere 35 years earlier, Chicago had been a frontier outpost with a few thousand inhabitants, but now it was the commercial metropolis at the heart of the Midwest, growing at an astonishing pace as it drew people from around the country and from Europe, mostly German and Irish immigrants.

"By 1870, it was the United States’ fifth-largest city, with a population of 300,000. And for the most part, it was made of wood. 'Lumber was cheaper than brick and was more easily procured and more rapidly handled,' the Tribune would observe in 1872. 'In a city where time was everything and durability was not a matter much considered, street after street was lined with wooden buildings.'

"Forest and prairie fires were frequent in 1871 across a vast swath of the country’s northern regions, from the Rocky Mountains to upstate New York. During the first week of October, the Chicago Fire Department fought more than two dozen fires, wearing out the city’s approximately 190 firefighters and their horse-drawn equipment. They had 17 steam fire engines — three of which were out for repairs — along with four hook-and-ladder wagons and six carts that carried reels of fire hose.

"Nearly the entire department spent the night of Saturday, October 7, battling a blaze that burned down four square blocks just west of the Chicago River’s South Branch and north of Van Buren Street. Many firefighters were still working at the smoldering site Sunday afternoon. Some had been on the job for 18 hours. 'The men were exhausted, and some of the engines were in bad condition,' said Robert A. Williams, who’d been Chicago’s chief fire marshal since 1868. 'The supply of hose was inefficient.' They’d barely had a chance to rest when another fire broke out Sunday night, in a barn half a mile south of Saturday night’s burning. After that, as firefighter Leo Meyers recalled, 'everything went wrong.'

"Over the next 30 hours, that fire would grow and grow, roaring across roughly three square miles in the heart of Chicago, killing hundreds of people and destroying 17,450 buildings — causing more property damage than any fire before it in America. As Chicago marks the disaster’s 150th anniversary, the fire remains the most famous event in the city’s history.

"This is the story of the Great Chicago Fire, as told by people who lived through it. Their words are from letters, memoirs, oral histories, newspaper articles and books of the time, and testimony at a city inquiry in 1871 (which Richard F. Bales transcribed for his 2002 book on the fire and donated to the Chicago History Museum). The quotes have been lightly edited for clarity and length; language of the era has been left intact.

"On Sunday evening October 8th 1871 a fire broke out in a barn owned by the O’Leary family on DeKoven Street that spread a little over three miles across Chicago, ultimately destroying 17,450 buildings, killing around 300 people, and leaving more than 100,000 residents homeless. It would rage for 30 hours leaving the city center in ruins before finally flaming out at Fullerton Avenue, then the northernmost edge of Chicago.

"At the time Lakeview was its own town while Lincoln Park and Old Town were much smaller communities, full of farms and dairies owned by German immigrants. With the 150th anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire, I thought I’d look at the handful of 'pre-fire' buildings that survived this terrible event as well as some that were constructed in the immediate aftermath near the city’s then northern limits.

"The most famous residence to survive the fire is the Richard Bellinger Cottage, a late 1860s Italianate that stands at 2121 N. Hudson. Designed by W.W. Boyington, the architect of the city’s water tower (the only public building left untouched in the burned zone ), it cost $500 to construct the home (or $16,500 with inflation). Both employed as policemen, Bellinger and his brother-in-law wetted down the home and its roof with water and cider taken from the cellar, covering the building with soaked rugs and blankets. He also cleared all the dry leaves on the property, then he tore up the wooden sidewalk and picket fence so the fire wouldn’t spread. It worked! Everything around his little cottage burned to ground.

"The Chicago Tribune reported a few days later that 'a small white cottage…remains unscathed in the midst of the dreary waste surrounding it.' Exactly a hundred years later, the then owner, a woman named Mrs. Albert A. Liebrich remarked that she 'couldn’t care less about its history. It may be history to you, but to me it’s a place I’ve paid for.' Fortunately six years later the home was designated a landmark by the Chicago Landmarks Commission.

"The Bellinger House might have been the only building left standing after the fire died out in Lincoln Park but there were other survivors nearby that narrowly escaped like the 'twin' houses at 2343 and 2339 N. Cleveland, which were built around 1866. The burnt district ended at Clark and Fullerton, just around the block, so these buildings were not in the direct path of the fire. But it’s amazing to see them still standing 155 years later in an area where a lot of new construction takes place.

"Two lost works by architects Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright share the spotlight in a new, dual exhibition at Wrightwood 659. We speak with the city’s cultural historian and a noted artist who were part of a team exploring a long-lost theater and more.

"Marc Vitali: Salvaged ornaments, documentary photos and immersive digital animations bring to life the Garrick Theater, a lost masterpiece of Chicago architecture.

"The Garrick opened as the Schiller Theater Building in 1892, one year before the Chicago World’s Fair. The early skyscraper at 64 W. Randolph St. was designed by Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler.

"Tim Samuelson, cultural historian and curator: In creating the show, certainly there’s going to be interest from people really into architecture and history, but we wanted to tell more of a broad story. It’s almost like the building is a living thing.

"Chris Ware, artist and designer: This entire show is an attempt to recreate a feeling of a building in the same way you get a feeling from a person, and to realize what’s really lost when that person or that building is gone.

"Samuelson: To say a building is a living thing is not really off base because part of what Sullivan tried to create were buildings that were an extension of nature. Beauty that will hit you in the heart and in the head.

"Vitali: Before the Garrick closed in 1960, Samuelson visited the theater when he was 8 years old.

"Samuelson: I was interested in these buildings when I was just a little kid, and I remember to this day walking into that auditorium and into this wonderful almost narrow space and it rose up and it arched to the center, and I was mesmerized. When the lights went down you could look around and see these spaces unfolding everywhere. And that stuck with me to this day.

"Ware: Recent neurological research shows that we have mapping neurons that create electrical impulses and shapes of buildings within our minds. As we get to know a building, we actually have little tiny models of buildings and spaces that we frequent in our brains and they affect our memories and our experiences of the world. So I tried to put a little bit of that into the show, if that doesn’t sound completely insane.

"Vitali: The building fragments come from salvage efforts of the late photographer and preservationist Richard Nickel. Nickel famously and tragically died in 1972 when a portion of the old Chicago Stock Exchange collapsed on him.

"Samuelson: Of the original objects in this exhibit, every one of them came from Richard Nickel himself or was part of the salvage effort, which he led with John Vinci and David Norris. These were the team that was actually chipping these things out of the building. Most of the pieces that we have here that are original came from something that Richard Nickel had. In fact, Nickel, when he was alive, he realized my interest in architecture and these buildings and he gave me many of them.

"Samuelson: What you have here is the story of two buildings, and they both share being created by architects who are passionate about creating buildings, buildings that were of beauty and utility, and ones that would impact you in the heart, just like you’d experience something in nature.

More on this story:

"The Garrick Theater was demolished for a parking garage. The Larkin building was razed for a truck stop that was never built." (WTTW Chicago, Vitali, 9/29/21)

Tweet from ChEyeBall regarding Preservation Chicago's Walking Tour of Chicago's Central Manufacturing District-Original East District. Image Credit: @ChEyeBall/Twitter

Preservation Chicago held a highly successful walking tour of Chicago's Central Manufacturing District-Original East District (In Person and Virtual Tour)

Explore the Central Manufacturing District-East and learn about this irreplaceable artifact of industrial history and design in Chicago's McKinley Park and Bridgeport neighborhoods.

Named as one of Preservation Chicago's "Chicago 7 Most Endangered" of 2021 the CMD East has a rich history and esthetic that is threatened by a combination of demolition and neglect.

Tour Conducted By:

Schiller Building / Garrick Theater, 1890-1892, Adler and Sullivan, 64 W. Randolph St. Demolished 1961. Photo credit: Richard Nickel / Ryerson & Burnham Archives Archival Image Collection

Schiller Building / Garrick Theater, 1890-1892, Adler and Sullivan, 64 W. Randolph St. Demolished 1961. Photo credit: Richard Nickel / Ryerson & Burnham Archives Archival Image Collection

"Why are buildings designed by architects Louis H. Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright so haunting, especially those that have been destroyed? More than simply creating a physical structure, both architects had rare gifts for engaging the human senses and emotions through the power of space, color, light, and motion – all qualities that can never quite be conveyed by photography or drawings. Their buildings demanded to be experienced.

"This exhibition attempts to conjure the essence of two long-gone masterpieces. Louis Sullivan’s Garrick Theatre Building in Chicago stood for only sixty-nine years and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Larkin Building in Buffalo lasted only forty-four years, and yet, these buildings continue to resonate, far outlasting their physical presence.

"Reconstructing the Garrick: Adler & Sullivan’s Lost Masterpiece, Curated by John Vinci with Tim Samuelson, Chris Ware,

"Reimagining the Larkin: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Modern Icon, Curated by Jonathan D. Katz

"For this year’s Tour Day, Docomomo US/Chicago is teaming up with Forgotten Chicago for a walking tour of Peterson Avenue. The street is lined with small postwar commercial buildings that sprung up when Peterson Avenue was one of the major highways leading into the city. With their zigzag rooflines, staggered facades, and 1960s flair, this group of tiny modernist gems brings a touch of Southern California car culture to the northwest side of Chicago. The tour will include the former Lincoln Inn Motel from 1962 as well as one of Chicago’s most iconic neon restaurant signs.

"This walking tour will include about 2.5 miles of walking, starting near the intersection of Peterson and Western Avenues. At the starting point, paid street parking is available, and there is free non-permit parking available two blocks north on Granville Avenue. The tour will end near Pulaski; if guests have parked near the starting point they can take a CTA bus or ride share back to their vehicles.

"Following the tour, guests are welcome to join us at Alarmist Brewing & Taproom for a cash bar and complimentary light snacks. Hope to see you there!

Saturday, October 16, 2021

12:00 - 3:00 PM

"Every October, the Chicago Architecture Center is proud to host Open House Chicago—a free public festival that offers self-guided history and architecture trails throughout Chicago, talks and programming, and behind-the-scenes access to architecturally, historically and culturally significant sites across the city.

"Open House Chicago remains one of the largest events of its kind in the world. This year's in-person site visits occur on October 16 and 17, with extended programming and city-wide trails available for the entire month of October.

"OHC 2021 includes more than 100 sites in 30+ neighborhoods across Chicago and nearby suburbs, many of which are not typically open to the public. Sites are open at the times listed throughout the weekend of October 16 and 17 and entry is free unless otherwise noted."

"This year's program highlights more than 30 Chicago neighborhoods, North Shore suburbs and Oak Park, with 30 trails for self-guided, outdoor exploration on themes including community engagement, green spaces, historic preservation, residential architecture and more. OHC 2021 also includes a broad array of talks and virtual programs, as well as tips and itineraries for exploring shopping, dining, and other attractions in each neighborhood.

"OHC 2021 features a return of the OHC App with extended content you can find nowhere else." (OpenHouseChicago.org)

Interpreting Wright

October 13 – 17, 2021

Online and in-person in Buffalo, New York

"Interpreting Wright will be the Conservancy’s third Buffalo conference, and our first there in over a decade. Education sessions will explore how Wright is interpreted for public audiences, with a special emphasis on visitor centers and public education programs as integral aspects of historic preservation.

"Toshiko Mori, architect of the acclaimed Greatbatch Pavilion at the Martin House estate, will deliver a keynote address. We’ll enjoy special visits to Wright’s most notable Prairie-period works in Western New York, including the Martin House, Graycliff (the Isabelle Martin House), the Boynton House and the Davidson House, as well as other landmarks of the region.

"Evening events will allow us to reconnect with old friends, make new ones and celebrate the recipients of the 2021 Wright Spirit Awards. The Conservancy looks forward to seeing you in Buffalo – or online!

"The Available City at Central Park Theater by Chicago Architecture Biennial

Exhibit Runs September 17 to December 18, 2021

Monday- Friday, 11am-2pm

Central Park Theater, 3535 W Roosevelt Road, North Lawndale

Project by Manuel Herz Architects and the Central Park Theater Restoration Committee

Mural byThomas Melvin Painting Studio

"The Central Park Theater was one of the most important social and cultural hubs of Chicago: The place where Benny Goodman played his first concerts in the 1920s, and where gospel and blues musicians invented new styles in the 1950s and 60s. One of the most historically significant movie palaces in the United States, the theater is one of the first of its kind and became a model for buildings of its type which followed. In 1971, it became home to the House of Prayer Church of God in Christ under the leadership of Pastor Lincoln Scott and his successor, Pastor Robert Marshal.

"Since 2019, a committee—The Central Park Restoration Committee—of interdisciplinary partners has joined in collaboration with the Church to plan for a sustainable restoration and redevelopment of the theater to serve the North Lawndale community. Currently, a planning process is underway to seek funds to address deferred maintenance and restoration priorities, while continuing ongoing community engagement.

"Members from various local organizations—House of Prayer Church of God in Christ, Jewish Community Relations Council of Chicago, North Lawndale Historical & Cultural Society, Preservation Chicago, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Future Firm—are part of this committee, and were involved in both the design of the Biennial project and programming into the future.

For more information visit Chicago Architecture Biennial

"Helmut Jahn and Chicago were made for one another. Helmut’s larger-than-life persona and his inventive and surprisingly original buildings remade Chicago in the 1980s. His brash designs and relentless pursuit of excellence invigorated Chicago, helping the architectural community move confidently beyond mid-century modernism. Helmut was, in turn, embraced by 'the city of big shoulders.'" -- Lynn Osmond, President and CEO of the Chicago Architecture Center)

"'Helmut Jahn: Life + Architecture' is a new exhibit honoring the late Chicago architect and style icon. Get to know this extraordinary man who will continue to inspire generations to come.

"Chicago lost a radiant star with the recent death of Helmut Jahn (1940-2021). Known for the creation of progressive, often provocative buildings around the globe, Jahn’s talent, style and charisma also caught the attention of the world beyond design aficionados. Having received nearly every architectural accolade over the course of his career, Jahn still managed to compete in dozens of world championship sailing competitions and grace the cover of popular magazines like GQ.

"Born in Germany, Jahn came to Chicago in 1966 to study at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). With an education rooted in formal modernism, he began forging a career in his adopted hometown with bold works that both extrapolated from and challenged modernist orthodoxy. Helmut Jahn: Life + Architecture presents important designs by the powerhouse architect, ranging from signature early projects like the crystalline Michigan City Public Library (1977) and Chicago’s dazzlingly provocative James R. Thompson Center (1985) to the transformational urban marketplace Sony Center in Berlin (2000) and the forward-looking Pritzker Military Archives Center, currently under construction in Somers, Wisconsin.

"Photography, models and sketches illuminate each project and explore the collaborative design and engineering process, while personal imagery, video and recollections by those who knew and worked with Jahn underscore his flair for the dramatic and zest for life." (Chicago Architecture Center Website)

"Learning from Lake Shore Drive by Julia Bachrach, a Newberry Adult Education Seminars Program

"North Lake Shore Drive has a fascinating history. Conceived as a pleasure drive at the Lake Michigan edge of Lincoln Park, the Drive was built in stages between the 1870s and late 1950s. As the lakefront boulevard was extended to the north and south, it attracted the development of nearby residences in the adjacent Near North, Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Uptown, and Edgewater communities.

"Today, ambitious improvements for the historic roadway are being planned through an initiative called Redefine the Drive. As part of the environmental review processes for this project, Julia Bachrach headed a team of historians that produced a Historic Properties Identification Report. Their work involved conducting intensive research on Lincoln Park, Lake Shore Drive, and hundreds of buildings along the NLSD corridor. In this seminar, Bachrach will share her findings about the architecture, structures, landscapes, and social history of Lincoln Park and the adjacent neighborhoods.

"A consulting historic preservation planner, Julia Bachrach previously served as the Chicago Park District’s historian. Her books include The City in a Garden: A History of Chicago’s Parks. She served as lead author of the Historic Properties Identification Report for North Lake Shore Drive.

"Learning from Lake Shore Drive

Led by Julia Bachrach

The Newberry’s Adult Education Seminars Program

Three Virtual Sessions. Wednesdays, December 1, December 8, and December 15

6pm-7:30pm

Registration – $125

"Welcome to the Pritzker Military Museum & Library’s newest exhibition, Drawn to Combat: Bill Mauldin & The Art of War, a retrospective of the provocative work by two-time Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist Bill Mauldin about our nation’s time of war, civil rights, and social justice.

"Explore Mauldin’s largest collection featuring 150 framed drawings and published cartoons, as well as personal material from his exceptional career including his Pulitzer Prize awards, fan letters, and Purple Heart medal. #WhoIsBillMauldin

"Learn more and purchase your exhibit tickets ahead of time here:"

Louis Sullivan’s Idea by Tim Samuelson. Rachel Freundt @chi_geek on twitter

"The story of Louis H. Sullivan is considered one of the great American tragedies. While Sullivan reshaped architectural thought and practice and contributed significantly to the foundations of modern architecture, he suffered a sad and lonely death. Many have since missed his aim: that of bringing buildings to life. What mattered most to Sullivan were not the buildings but the philosophy behind their creation. Once, he unconcernedly stated that if he lived long enough, he would get to see all of his works destroyed. He added: “Only the idea is the important thing.”

"In Louis Sullivan’s Idea, Chicago architectural historian Tim Samuelson and artist/writer Chris Ware present Sullivan’s commitment to his discipline of thought as the guiding force behind his work, and this collection of photographs, original documentation, and drawings all date from the period of Sullivan's life, 1856–1924, that many rarely or have never seen before. The book includes a full-size foldout facsimile reproduction of Louis Sullivan’s last architectural commission and the only surviving working drawing done in his own hand."

384 pages, 300 color plates

$45.00 cloth/jacket

'Modern in the Middle; Chicago Houses 1929-75, by Susan Benjamin and Michelangelo Sabatino with foreword by Pauline Saliga. Image Credit: Modern in the Middle

Modern in the Middle

Chicago Houses 1929-75

Susan Benjamin and Michelangelo Sabatino; foreword by Pauline Saliga

THE FIRST SURVEY OF THE CLASSIC TWENTIETH-CENTURY HOUSES THAT DEFINED AMERICAN MIDWESTERN MODERNISM.

"Modern in the Middle: Chicago Houses 1929–75, a book co-authored by Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture Professor and Ph.D. Program Director Michelangelo Sabatino and preservationist Susan S. Benjamin, has received a prestigious Docomomo Modernism in America Award. The award program, now in its eighth year, recognizes and celebrates work that documents, preserves, or reuses Modernist architecture in the United States.

"The book presents 50 Modernist houses in the greater Chicago area including examples by Frank Lloyd Wright, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Stanley Tigerman, John Moutoussamy, A. James Speyer, Edmond Zisook, and John Vinci, several of whom were Illinois Tech graduates. The book’s detailed histories include information about the clients in order to show how modern social aspirations transformed the residential realm. Modern in the MIddle also examines how Chicago’s modern homes played a role in the development of the single-family home across the U.S., while helping to establish a unique Midwestern Modern design language.

"'The histories of Chicago’s built environment that focus on the accomplishments of only a handful of architects inevitably overlook the vital contribution made by a host of architects, and their clients, in shaping the city’s distinctive residential architecture,” says Sabatino.

"The jury, chaired by Marcel Quimby, principal of Quimby Preservation Studio, bestowed Modern in the Middle with an Award of Excellence, citing the variety of subjects within the publication and calling it 'a dynamic and engaging book that is a useful resource for the public.'

"'The brilliant thing about Modern in the Middle is that it focuses not just on the architects and their buildings, it also focuses on the clients, the real-life women and men who took a chance and commissioned these buildings,' says Pauline Saliga, executive director of the Society of Architectural Historians and the author of the book’s foreword. 'Because of that more personal focus, the public can better relate to these remarkable homes, and better understand how cutting edge these designs were. These were the teams—clients and architects—who helped shape the Midwest’s own unique brand of Modern residential architecture.'

Praise for Modern in the Middle

"Modern in the Middle significantly expands our understanding of modern architecture in the Chicago area by bringing to light a number of lesser-known yet talented architects. The houses and interiors designed by IIT graduates like myself demonstrate that the Miesian legacy was more complex than it might appear at first sight."

—JOHN VINCI, FAIA

"Modern in the Middle looks beyond Chicago’s iconic skyscrapers to show us that this city’s residential buildings have also been paradigmatic in shaping modern architecture. The book’s scope goes beyond just “midcentury” making the “Middle” a signifier that explores Chicago’s central place in the nation’s geography and the essential role of the American middle class in defining the idea of “modern housing.” Every piece of this carefully assembled volume is insightful and still resonant in our lives today."

—GWENDOLYN WRIGHT, COLUMBIA GSAPP

"This rich and fascinating compendium places the modern houses in and around Chicago in historical and philosophical context. In addition to the descriptions not only of the houses and architects but also the crucial role of the clients, the accompanying original photographs and plans are important parts of the thorough documentation. There is much to be discovered here!"

—CYNTHIA WEESE, FAIA

"Nothing epitomized the glamour and excitement of Chicago’s jazz age and war years like the fabled Edgewater Beach Hotel. Much more than a hotel, the Edgewater Beach was a world unto itself—the only urban resort of its kind in the nation. Located on the shores of Lake Michigan on Chicago’s North Side, it offered swimming, golf, tennis, dancing, theater, fine dining, exclusive shopping, fabulous floor shows, unique watering holes, and, of course, some of the best jazz and swing music of its era. It even had its own pioneering radio station, which broadcasted across the nation and burnished its fame. Many of the legends of the big band era played its stages, and many of Hollywood’s leading stars crossed its footlights. It was a stomping ground for both the rich and famous as well as ordinary people who wanted a small taste of the high life. The Edgewater Beach Hotel was world renowned. But the social upheaval of the 1960s, the ascendance of automobile culture, and rapid urban change led to its demise." (ArcadiaPublishing.com)

"Fifty years ago, the last remnants of Edgewater’s most famous building came down, ending an era for one of the most storied hotels in Chicago history. Now, the Edgewater Beach Hotel is being remembered in the first book on the subject, written by two neighborhood historians.

"'Remembering Edgewater Beach Hotel' was published this year under Arcadia Publishing’s popular 'Images of America' series. It was written by Kathryn Gemperle and John Holden, members of the Edgewater Historical Society.

"The Edgewater Beach Hotel opened in 1916 in the 5300 block of North Sheridan Road. It quickly became the crown jewel of Edgewater, which was known for its wealthy residents and leafy mansions. With its own beach, the hotel quickly became a destination for well-heeled Chicagoans and dignitaries of the day, including Babe Ruth, Bing Crosby and Marilyn Monroe.

"'The hotel was that rarest of birds, perhaps without equal anywhere in the world: a full-service beachfront resort hotel located in the heart of one of the world’s great cities,' Holden and Gemperle write in the book. 'To find its rivals in the mid-20th century, one would have had to travel outside the Midwest to Atlantic City, Palm Beach, or the islands of California.'

"Aside from its lavish amenities, the hotel was the first home of WGN, which placed its broadcast antennas atop the hotel. The hotel also helped popularize jazz and big band music in the 1920s, with radio broadcasts beaming live performances from the hotel.

"The Edgewater Beach Hotel played a pivotal role in the founding of the Zenith Radio Company. It is also considered to have built the world’s first indoor parking garage.

"In 1947, the city approved a plan to extend DuSable Lake Shore Drive from Foster Avenue to Hollywood Avenue, cutting off the hotel from its private lakefront.

"The Edgewater Beach Hotel closed in 1967 and was demolished in 1971. All that remains is the Edgewater Beach Apartments, the historic building at 5550 N. Sheridan Road built in 1928 as a companion to the hotel.

"Despite its demise, the Edgewater Beach Hotel retains a special place in the memory of longtime Edgewater residents, Gemperle said. The authors hope the new book will help preserve the hotel’s legacy for future generations of Chicagoans.

"'The community of Edgewater has a nostalgia for the hotel, especially after it was torn down,' Gemperle said. 'It really was a big deal.' (Ward, Block Club Chicago, 8/5/21)

"Pullman Is...

"Pullman National Monument, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, and Historic Pullman Foundation invite you to the grand opening of the new Pullman National Monument Visitor Center and Pullman State Historic Site, Labor Day Weekend, 2021"

"Video starts with a walk around 360-view of the finished move. Next a recap of the considerable preparation done before the move, including a large excavation for the new foundation and building a massive reinforced concrete sub-foundation. 360 Degree View.

 0:00  Walk around 360 View of New Location

 1:42  Original Location

 1:48  Building in 1929

 2:01  Project starts in May with basement excavation

 2:18  Large Hole excavated for New Foundation

 2:41  Moveable Down Spouts installed

 3:00  Surveying the New Foundation

 3:25  New Foundation Floor Pad

 4:10  Framing the massive new Foundation Footing

 6:06  Pouring the Reinforced Concrete Foundation Footing

 7:08  Wolfe Building Movers on site. That’s the owner & one of his sons.

 7:31  First holes in old foundation for Moving Beams

 7:58  The first Moving Beam is in place

 8:28  Placing the first Large Moving Beam

10:05  All the Large Beams have been placed

10:59  Placing a Medium Beam

12:45  Medium Sized Cross Beams on Large Beams

13:19  Placing the Front Facade Exterior Bracing

14:11  The old foundation is gone & the Building is sitting on the Moving Platform

14:48  Unified Jacking Machine and Hydraulic Lines

15:03  Heavy Duty Rollers “skates”

15:16  Moving Day